20100718
africanews

Liberia will benefit from a US$15 million grant from the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) after it recently signed an agreement with the corporation. The grant is aimed at promoting equitable access to land, improve girls' primary education enrollment and retention, and trade policy and practices.

VOA quotes Cassandra Butts, senior advisor to the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as saying the MCC views Liberia as a model of progress.

“It means that we have determined that Liberia is now positioned to be a partner with the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Threshold Programme. And, the Threshold Programme focuses on countries that don’t quite qualify to meet our performance indicator, but we believe that they are well-positioned, with some assistance, to meet the indicators,” she said.

Butts said the money would go toward financing three areas identified by the Liberian government as part of its development strategy.

She added that “the three areas are trade policy, land access and land policy, and the third area is a focus on girls' primary education enrollment and retention”.

Millennium Challenge Corporation is an official U.S. agency designed to work with developing countries to promote sound political, economic, and social policies that promote poverty reduction through economic growth.

She said one of the things that are very important to the MCC model is that it’s a country-driven approach where it works with countries and the countries take the lead in identifying areas where they determined will lead to poverty reduction and economic growth.

A 2008 survey by the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission warned there was a possibility of Liberia returning to violence if the government did not move to address the land issue.

There are numerous reported examples of cases where land has been encroached upon, demarcated or resold.

Butts said the bulk of the $15 million will be spent on land accessibility, security and administration and registration, as determined by the Liberian government.